Nintendo Co., which has not yet thrown itself fully into the world of mobile gaming, is giving people a good idea of what a smartphone hit looks like with the success of "Pokemon Go."
The company has added more than $7 billion in market value since last week's debut of a new smartphone app for its Pokemon fantasy monster character franchise. The game, which lets users track down virtual monsters in their vicinity, has topped the free-to-download app charts for Apple in the U.S. and Australia since its release Thursday, according to market researcher App Annie.
Nintendo's shares responded with their biggest intraday jump since at least 1983, when the stock started trading in Tokyo, climbing as much as 25 percent Monday. Investors are taking Pokemon's early success as a sign of things to come for a company that has yet to commit the most popular characters from its Mario or Zelda franchises to mobile gaming apps.
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